W.J. Butcher is a Coweta County resident and retired 26-year veteran of the Atlanta Police Department. Send comments, kudos, and criticism to: theprecinctpress@gmail.com .

While at APD, I always thought it important to be constantly learning about my job.

It always disappoints me to encounter people that dont expand their knowledge or enthusiasm about their occupations or life in general.

I remember shopping around for some lime for my pasture and encountered the most country speaking fertilizer salesman I had encountered in a long time. He went on to tell me if he had a dollar to spend on fertilizer or lime, he would buy lime because lime has electrical properties that could actually change the polarity of the ions, activating the nitrogen lying dormant in the soil. Shocked and amazed at his product knowledge, I shouted, Sold, buying two tons on the spot.

I am sorely lacking knowledge on pop culture and todays music for that matter. Music artists, for instance, have lost their unique sound since the days of Molly Hatchet to Brooks & Dunn. But I want to stay up to date on words that fill our airwaves.

One of pop cultures newest is the word woke. When someone is accused of being woke in my conservative circles, it always comes off sounding negative, easily outraged. It is commonly identified with radical identity politics, race-baiting, political correctness, cancel culture and virtue signaling.

First used in the 1940s, the term resurfaced as a concept symbolizing perceived awareness of social issues, most notably the Michael Brown shooting. In years past, that shooting would have the headline, A man was shot by police today. A more woke announcement goes something like, A young unarmed black man holding his hands high in the air pleading, I give up before being gunned down by a white police officer. Maybe too long for a headline, but most certainly found in the first paragraph. Woke is the slang version of Ive been sleeping all my life; now I stay woke.

I find it true that people are far too hypersensitive about common day-to-day events. Words today will get you fired. We have gone to the extent of legislating hate crime laws that tack on an extra charge and jail time if you can get into the subconscious of the suspect as to his underlying motivation or prove their mind crime. Suspects actually have to be careful what they say while they are beating you up these days.

At the police academy, we all received specialized desensitivity training about the gay life style, race relations, foreign cultures and the mentally ill community, just to name a few. The bottom line in all that education is to see various groups as human beings first with perspectives that we dont necessarily share, understand or approve of. We were ingrained with the importance of a persons right to free speech and to actually protect their right to peaceably protest. The local courts unfortunately allowed people to cuss at us (police), with judges saying, Thats all a part of the job of a police officer. But the same words said to a private citizen would be considered fighting words and the speaker charged accordingly.

Look, I have to give you permission to offend me. Sticks and stones, my Mom used to say. We all grew up tough back in the day. Weirdos, idiots and punks run their mouths, and I consider them as much. When you go around looking to criticize, shame and label everyone that doesnt agree with you with some clever catch phrase or -ism because it makes you feel superior, maybe you better get less woke and start seeing the good in people.

Now, give me a big hug, you wokester.

W.J. Butcher is a Coweta County resident and retired 26-year veteran of the Atlanta Police Department. Send comments, kudos, and criticism to: theprecinctpress@gmail.com .

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Wokes, pokes, and prods - Newnan Times-Herald